ACLU says Muslim inmates in L.A. jails not treated equally

The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday said Los Angeles County jails have not been treating Muslim inmates fairly and warned the Sheriff’s Department to change its policies within two weeks or face a legal fight.

ACLU attorney Jessica Price said her organization’s letter to interim Sheriff John Scott is a last-ditch effort to convince the Sheriff’s Department to afford Muslims the same weekly services Jews and Christians receive.

“In the letter, we’re giving him two weeks to address it. Otherwise we’ll just go to court,” Price said.

She said the ACLU, a court-appointed monitor of L.A.’s jails, has met with and written to the department for more than two years in hopes of securing equal rights for Muslims inside Men’s Central Jail and Twin Towers.

Department officials, under then-Sheriff Lee Baca, even agreed with the ACLU, Price said. But the problems persist, she said.

“Without a written commitment, I don’t think that it’s actually going to change,” Price said.

Now, the ACLU is finalizing more than 20 declarations from volunteers and inmates, Price said.

“The Sheriff’s Department remains committed to complying with all Federal and State laws that apply to inmates entrusted to our care and custody,” the statement said. “This includes their guarantee of religious freedom.

“The Department has been in contact with the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and the ACLU to discuss issues pertaining to Muslim inmates housed within the Los Angeles County Jail system.

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“We have, and will continue to meet with all faith based organizations to ensure that inmates of all faiths have access to the religious and spiritual services of their choice.

“The Sheriff’s Department has a Religious and Volunteer Services Unit in the jail. Their primary purpose is to coordinate the delivery of religious services to the inmate population. There are currently over 2,000 representatives from the various ministries (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Christian Scientist, Jehovah’s Witness, Episcopalian) who volunteer to provide for the spiritual needs of the men and women incarcerated within our jail system.”

The ACLU authored a scathing 2011 report on deputy brutality inside L.A.’s jails and filed a 2012 lawsuit accusing Baca and his top brass of failing to stop it.

Jailhouse problems also landed the department at the center of an FBI investigation that led to federal charges against 21 current and former sheriff’s officials last year and earlier this year.

While some of the ACLU’s previous efforts to secure rights for Muslims have made a difference, inmates are still routinely denied prayer gatherings on their weekly holy day, Friday, volunteer chaplain Shakeel Syed said.

“There are a lot of good individuals who try to help you,” Syed said. “But if I don’t have those individuals on a certain day, I don’t know whether I’m going to be able to hold services.”

Syed, who spent much of the last 30 years volunteering his religious guidance at federal and state prisons, first walked into county jail several years ago as part of a religious coalition Baca tapped to quell a war between black and Latino inmates.

Religion, Syed said, helps some inmates change their perspective and refocus their lives.

“In so little time I see so much transformation,” Syed said. “That’s my sole motivation to keep going back.”

The department, Syed said, has made some progress, adding that over the past year halal food — conforming to Islamic dietary laws — was added to jail menus.

For a time, it even seemed like Men’s Central Jail was turning around, he noted, as inmates of the facility were permitted to attend services during last year’s Ramadan. But those gatherings, Price said, have become fewer and farther between over the past two months.

Twin Towers, meanwhile, has made no progress in the way of services, Syed said, pointing out that when he goes to the facility, jailers limit his volunteer hours to “walking the rows” — meeting with locked-up inmates one by one.

Deputies, Syed said, claim security risks prevent them from letting inmates gather for prayer. But those same inmates, Syed said, can get together for less productive activities.

“The irony is they let them gather to watch TV and play cards,” Syed said. “But they’re not allowed to simply hold prayers together.”

Jailers, he said, also claim there aren’t enough volunteers to hold weekly services, Syed said. Deputies fear that if they let inmates run religious gatherings, those leaders may use that authority to unholy ends, Syed said. The simple solution, Syed offered, is to rotate which inmates run the weekly services.